ORLANDO, Fla. — A gunman is at large after an Orlando police officer was shot [3 times] near a Walmart Monday morning.

The shooting was reported near the store on Princeton Street around 7:15 a.m., prompting a massive police response to the area of Princeton Street and John Young Parkway.

Police confirmed via Twitter that an officer was shot. No further details were released.

The injured officer was rushed to Orlando Regional Medical Center. The officer’s condition was not immediately available.

Orange County deputies said Markeith Loyd, who is wanted in the December slaying of a pregnant woman, was spotted leaving the scene of Monday’s shooting.

Moments after the Walmart shooting, a deputy spotted Loyd at North Lane and Pine Hills Drive where Loyd pulled into an apartment complex and fired at the deputy, the sheriff’s office said. The deputy was unharmed.

Thirteen Orange County schools have been placed in a precautionary lock down due to the shooting.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Orlando police say the officer gunned down early Monday was a mother and a wife who devoted her life to helping her hometown community.

Chief John Mina identified the slain officer as Master Sgt. Debra Clayton, a 17-year-veteran of the department.

Clayton was shot and killed in the line of duty near a Walmart in Orlando.

Police Chief John Mina said the suspect, Markieth Loyd, 41, also is also wanted in the slaying of his pregnant ex-girlfriend.

Colleagues of Clayton said she was married and the mother of a college aged son. She was being remembered Monday as a person who always had a smile on her face and often took time out of her day to interact with the community.

Her cousin told WESH 2 News Clayton recently filed paperwork to start a non-profit foundation to help the community bond with police.

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — An Orange County Sheriff’s Office motorcycle deputy was killed in a crash that occurred during the search for a man accused of fatally shooting an Orlando police officer, troopers said.

The Florida Highway Patrol said the crash happened near the intersection of Balboa and Pine Hills Road while the deputy was searching for Markeith Loyd, 41.

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. - A man accused of aiding fugitive Markeith Loyd was arrested Tuesday night, according to Orange County authorities.

Investigators said they arrested Zarghee Mayan on charges that he helped Loyd, 41, hide after Loyd's pregnant ex-girlfriend, Sade Dixon, was killed on Dec. 13.

During an interview with investigators on Dec. 14, Mayan said “he was at work (New Texas Fried Chicken) and Loyd walked in after the homicide armed with a gun. Loyd pointed at Mayan’s head and said, ‘Drive me or I will kill you. I just did something real bad,’” according to an arrest affidavit.

But detectives said Mayan, 33, changed his story several times about his interaction with Loyd, according to the affidavit. The sheriff’s office report also said that Mayan said the last time he saw and spoke with Loyd was on Jan. 7.

The affidavit said Mayan told another detective that he never had a gun pointed at him, nor did he see Loyd at the restaurant. Instead, Mayan claimed that he saw Loyd on Dec. 13 when he and a friend drove to an Orange County home on Jackson Street to buy marijuana.

According to the arrest affidavit, Mayan said Loyd told him to drive to an address in Richmond Heights, knock on the door and ask for his estranged wife. The affidavit said Mayan claimed to pretend to knock because he “believed that if he made contact with the ex-wife at that residence, Loyd was going to shoot her also.”

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — The suspect in the fatal shooting of an Orlando police officer was captured Tuesday night after eluding a massive manhunt for more than a week, authorities said.

Orlando police Chief John Mina said Markeith Loyd, 41, was flushed out of an abandoned house and taken into custody, ending a manhunt that began with the Jan. 9 killing of Lt. Debra Clayton outside a Wal-Mart store.

Local television stations showed Loyd with a bloodied face as a half-dozen officers and deputies took him into police headquarters.

Mina tweeted, "Captured and wearing Lt. Debra Clayton's handcuffs."

Loyd was wearing body armor and carrying two handguns — one equipped with a 100-round magazine — when he surrendered after a SWAT team surrounded the house in western Orlando, Mina said at a news conference. He said Loyd resisted arrest and had some facial injuries that were being treated.

Mina denied rumors that the arrest was the result of an anonymous tip, saying that Loyd was captured by the tireless efforts of law enforcement.

Officer Clayton's cruiser was defaced last week while parked at the memorial sight. There's a link in this article to video of Loyd's tantrum in Court last week. As a result, he is being held without bond.

A Florida man accused of killing his pregnant ex-wife, and then fatally shooting a police officer during a manhunt that left another cop dead, is competent enough to waive his right to a lawyer, a judge ruled on Thursday.

Markeith Loyd, 41, appeared in an Orlando courtroom after telling the judge last week that he wanted to represent himself. He faces 11 charges, including two counts of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and killing of an unborn child by injury to the mother. [...]Judge Frederick Lauten ruled Thursday that Loyd was competent to waive his right to counsel and represent himself after a series of questions in which Loyd often looked down and refused to respond.

"I hope you'll carefully consider what we talked about and I would urge you to consider having a lawyer represent you," he warned.

The judge said Loyd could be denied the right to represent himself in a trial if he engaged in such outbursts or other aggressive behavior.

Months before he was accused of killing his pregnant ex-girlfriend and an Orlando police officer, Markeith Loyd allegedly threatened three women with a handgun, Orange County deputies said.

Loyd now faces three counts of aggravated assault on top of two murder charges in the deaths of Sade Dixon and Lt. Debra Clayton, as well as a host of other violent crime charges. Documents released Monday reveal more details about the August case, for which Loyd appeared in front of a judge over the weekend.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------In court on Saturday, January 28, 2017, after refusing to go to court on Friday. This is his appearance for these new charges. It's only a minute long but shows his continuing disdain and lack of respect for what's happening.

A judge declined to lower the $400,000 bond for accused killer Markeith Loyd’s former boss on Wednesday.

Zarghee Mayan, who was Loyd’s manager at New Texas Fried Chicken on Orange Blossom Trail, is accused of aiding Loyd after the Dec. 13 murder of Sade Dixon, Loyd’s pregnant ex-girlfriend.

Mayan, 33, was one of three people arrested during the week-long manhunt for Loyd after Clayton’s death as law enforcement officers combed through the region trying to find him. Loyd’s niece, Lakensha Smith-Loyd, and an ex-girlfriend, Jameis Slaughter, were also accused of helping him while he was on the run.

Mayan’s attorney argued for a lower bond in part because Smith-Loyd had her bond dropped from $750,000 to $10,000 last week, and co-defendants typically have similar bonds.

Smith-Loyd was arrested after Mayan told deputies she picked up Loyd's paycheck from the New Texas Fried Chicken restaurant Mayan managed. She posted bond and was released from jail Thursday.

An attorney for Markeith Loyd’s ex-girlfriend, one of three people arrested during the manhunt for the accused killer, filed a motion arguing that she should have her $500,000 bond reduced.

Jameis Slaughter, 25, faces a charge of being an accessory after the fact in the December killing of Sade Dixon, Loyd’s pregnant ex-girlfriend, and of giving deputies her twin sister’s name instead of her own.

She is being held in the Orange County Jail.[...]A bond hearing has been set for Tuesday morning, Malove said.

In the written motion, Malove wrote that Slaughter’s only income before her arrest came from disability payments. Her aunt and uncle, who helped support her and three of her siblings, cannot afford to pay her current bond, she wrote.

“$500,000.00 is far beyond their financial ability," Malove wrote.

The motion also claims that Slaughter has been diagnosed with anxiety, depression and bipolar disorder, and was getting treatment at Lakeside Behavioral Healthcare before her arrest.

If released from jail until her trial, Slaughter would stay with her aunt.

Orange County prosecutors declined to file charges against the niece of Markeith Loyd, one of three people arrested during the manhunt for the alleged killer and accused of helping him.

There was not enough evidence to prove the case against Lakensha Smith-Loyd in court, state attorney’s spokeswoman Eryka Washington said. Smith-Loyd, who was initially held on a $750,000 bond, was released from the Orange County Jail on a $10,000 bond in late January. The case against her will close.

The other two people arrested during the manhunt had their bonds lowered Tuesday: Loyd's ex-girlfriend, Jameis Slaughter, from $500,000 to $25,000; and his former boss, Zarghee Mayan, from $400,000 to $20,000.

The State Attorney's Office held a news conference but, other than announcing the grand jury indictment, the majority of it was political issues. The current death penalty laws in FL are on hold. Despite what she stated, (imo) there's no doubt they will eventually seek the death penalty. Reminder: this POS wants to represent himself.

A grand jury on Wednesday indicted Markeith Loyd in two first-degree murder cases, Orange-Osceola State Attorney Aramis Ayala announced.[...]Ayala said her office has not determined whether it will seek the death penalty. Florida does not currently have a valid death penalty statute since various courts struck down previous laws.

A Florida House panel approved a new death penalty bill on Wednesday.

“We are eagerly anticipating a new statue from the legislature, and at that point we will determine whether to seek the death penalty for Markeith Loyd,” Ayala said.

Markeith Loyd was arraigned in court on Wednesday but did not plea. His behavior in Court seems to be getting better in court except he asked the Judge, while the Judge was reading the MANY charges, if "are you done?". The Judge is SO good communicating with him. Shown in this short video.

Well, I was wrong about the state seeking the death penalty on this case. A former state attorney says this is the reason for Ayala's decision: "...George Soros, who helped fund a political action committee that donated $1.4 million to her campaign."

Newly elected Orange-Osceola State Attorney Aramis Ayala announced Thursday morning that she will not seek the death penalty in any case under her administration — including the case against accused cop killer Markeith Loyd.

“I have determined that doing so is not in the best interest of the community or the best interest of justice,” Ayala said during a news conference Thursday. “I will continue to hold people who do harm to this community accountable for their actions.”

The Ninth Circuit State’s Attorney, who represents 1.4 million people, said she understands that law enforcement may be upset, but she did not make the decision arbitrarily.

Reaction came swiftly from state officials and local law enforcement.

Gov. Rick Scott asked Ayala to recuse herself from Loyd’s case.

“She has made it abundantly clear that she will not fight for justice for Lt. Debra Clayton and our law enforcement officers who put their lives on the line every day,” Scott said.

"State Attorney Aramis Ayala’s decision today sends a dangerous message to residents and visitors of the greater Orlando area—furthermore, it is a blatant neglect of duty and a shameful failure to follow the law as a constitutionally elected officer,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi.

Both Orlando Police Chief and Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings expressed their disappointment in the decision.

Both were facing a felony charge of accessory after the fact and were released from the Orange County Jail in February on $20,000 bail. The cases will be closed.

Slaughter also is facing a misdemeanor charge of giving a false name to law enforcement. That case is still pending.

Investigators said Mayan was untruthful during interviews and accused him of knowingly aiding Loyd. They said detectives first met with Mayan, who was Loyd’s manager at New Texas Fried Chicken on Orange Blossom Trail, the day after Dixon’s death.